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We received an interesting email today from unlocked-mobiles.com who have informed me that there will in fact be two variants of the Nokia Lumia 820 on sale in the UK. Most retailers will be selling the 3G version but the stock coming into unlocked-mobiles.com are 4G enabled.

So what does this mean for us consumers? Currently if you are looking to jump on the UK 4G LTE bandwagon you only have one carrier option at the moment and that is with EE. All the other UK carriers will have 4G in the near future but many of us smartphone geeks want the fastest connection as soon as possible. We have tested out the EE 4G speeds as you have seen and getting the new service in the UK is like a breath of fresh air, but it also comes at a cost.

Nokia, Samsung and HTC have poked fun at one another within the Windows Phone ecosystem, but it has remained in the jester spirit - we're sure even Samsung must have smirked at Nokia's "Welcome back to Windows Phone" stunt. But it seems it's HTC's turn again by highlighting the weight of the 8X compared to 'the other Windows Phone'. We all know which handset is being referred to.

Although Windows Phone 8 was announced last week, we’re still waiting on Verizon to announce some dates for their release (luckily pricing was mentioned).

Windows Phone Central just received some internal training documents that share some points for reps to sell the phones to customers. What’s more, we have the first written confirmation of wireless charging for the HTC 8X. From the training document, Verizon notes the following: “Wireless charger is built in so you can charge your phone wirelessly with a wireless charging pad (sold separately)”

Wireless charging for the HTC 8X was first reported by the Verge a few days ago and although we had little reason to doubt them, it’s still nice to see that feature officially listed in these documents. Indeed, that really is a huge selling feature for what is already an excellent device. Although the 8X doesn’t match the AT&T-exclusive Lumia 920 in some features, HTC can check that off as not being one.

The HTC 8X is now showing up as available to order at Clove, Expansys and O2. We quickly highlighted this availability in the 8X Metro newspaper advertisement, but it's surely worth an announcement of its own with consumers eager to make a purchase.

Yesterday we did an extensive run through of Nokia Maps 3.0 on Windows Phone 8, and now the underlying maps platform has been enhanced it has picked up some nice new features. Today we see the arrival of the Beta version of Nokia Drive+

Drive+ picks up some nice additions that we’re sure many existing Nokia Drive users will really appreciate, chief amongst them is the ability to fine tune how you want your journey to be planned and improved multitasking. We take a good look at what's new.

Perhaps it shouldn't be "odd" to see Verizon promoting Windows Phone, after all, the powerhouse US carrier is planning on selling not one, but three Windows Phones this year: Lumia 822, HTC 8X and the unspecified Samsung Odyssey (expected to have a 4" S-AMOLED display, WVGA resolution, and a 5MP camera)

Still, you know things are changing when you see a nice ad right on Verizon Wireless's front page with the line "Introducing The new Windows Phone. So advanced, it's actually simple."

We dig that tag line. And we're glad to see Verizon onboard with Windows Phone. Thanks, Andrew K., for the tip!

MetroTube for many Windows Phone users is the be-all, end-all for your mobile YouTube experience. With a slick design and excellent performance there’s little wonder.

Here at BUILD we were able to catch up with the developers behind MetroTube (and the new Windows 8 Twitter app Tweetro) for quick look at the upcoming update that will bring some new Windows Phone 8 features, including doublewide tiles and a new preloading feature (basically downloading for offline viewing).

In addition, we got a preliminary look at MetroTube for Windows 8 RT, which we can confirm is now officially in the works for your Surface.

Back in October, China Times reported that Microsoft was working on a self-branded Windows Phone for release sometime in 2013. Shortly after, tech site BGR also reported that they had heard similar information. Likewise, we went on record with our own source stating that indeed, Microsoft has a device in the works.

Now, the venerable Wall Street Journal is going on record with a source of their own stating that Microsoft “…is working with component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design” although they are unsure if they are going to go into production with it. The device is reportedly between 4 and 5 inches, which as far as phones go is quite vague. No other details were provided and of course, Microsoft had no comment.

The official Foursquare app for Windows Phone just got bumped to version 2.12 and includes “bug fixes, Thai and Indonesian languages added and application compatibility with Windows Phone 8”. All of that sounds good and people may be wondering what “compatibility with Windows Phone 8” actually means. Turns out, not much.

What we mean by that is there are no new functions here—no fast app resume, no doublewide tile, nothing for the Lockscreen, etc. It just means it should work properly on Windows Phone 8 and indeed, it does. We’re not knocking Foursquare as we’re sure they’ll release a WP8 version in the near future, but as of right now, this is quite minor.

One of the big new features for Windows Phone 8 is the ability to finally do over-the-air (OTA) updates to the OS—either for big things or little fixes. Previously, we could check for updates but if one were found, you had to head home to your PC and plug in the phone to install (including performing a full backup). Now, things are more streamlined.

In an article over at Mobility Minded, details of the update process were posted, giving a look at what users can expect with these updates. The updates are listed as manual or automatic, with the latter being downloaded behind the scenes and the former involving tapping in Settings to see if there is an update.